Before we get to tonight’s show schedule, here are a couple updates on items that ran this week in Lazy-i:

Jamie Massey, one of the new proprietors of The Sydney — the bar that’s taking over where Mick’s used to be (story here) — wrote to say that his new bar will indeed host live music.

“We will be doing some shows at some point … maybe not full-time like the Waiting Room, but keeping the option available since we have the means,” Massey said. He went on to explain that the name wasn’t derived from his love of Australia. “It was just an old bar in Sioux City that my grandparents would kick it at… For now we want to open as a place to hang out with decent prices and hopefully a good atmosphere.”

Jamie still hasn’t replied as to whether The Sydney will be serving Rolling Rock. Mick’s didn’t (and look what happened to it).

* * *

Chris Kramer, vocalist/guitarist in Stolen Kisses (reviewed here) and synth/guitar player in Talking Mountain, wrote to say that he’s moving to Chicago at the end of February and that this past Tuesday’s Darren Keen show was his last with Stolen Kisses. “I talked to the other guys in Stolen Kisses, and gave them my blessing to keep the band going,” he wrote. “I think we’ve created a good happening, and I’d hate to see it end just because I had to leave.”

Talking Mountain also will continue without Kramer, just as it did before he joined the band. His last show with TM will be next weekend at Box Awesome in Lincoln.

* * *

There are at least four good shows happening tonight. Here’s the run-down.

— The most crowded gig will be at O’Leaver’s tonight for Little Brazil and The Dinks. Will this be the first show since Har Mar where there’s a line outside the door of people waiting to get in? $5, 9:30 p.m.

— A night of indie is in store at The Barley St. Tavern tonight with It’s True, Oui Bandits, Adam Haug, Beati Paoli and Spring Acres. $5, 9 p.m.

— Greg Loftis and his band Malpais is playing tonight at Slowdown Jr. with Flight Metaphor. See if any of the Kevin Costner vibe from last night wears off on the set. $7, 9 p.m.

— Maybe the most interesting show of all is at The 49’r, where The Ettes are playing with Brimstone Howl. The Ettes are a New York trio with a garge-y sound that has toured with acts as diverse as New York Dolls, Holly Golightly, The Constantines, and The Black Keys. I’m digging their new album, Look at Life Again Soon. No idea on the cover. Show will probably start at around 9:30.

Saturday night is much quieter. The legendary Dereck Higgins is playing at The Barley St. with Paper Owls and Agronomo. $5, 9 p.m.

As for Sunday? My money’s on Arizona. Don’t let me down, Mr. Warner.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

The funny thing about Twitter is that — like all social media — people who know about it or use it think that everyone’s using it. That flat-out simply isn’t true. Twitter still seems to only be emerging now as something more than a one-to-many chat device for kids with too much time on their hands. It’s become integrated into some consumer-targeted companies as an extension of their customer service / support function. For example, if you bitch about Zappos.com on Twitter, a Zappos guy may see it and contact you (My flat, flipper-like feet prevent me from buying shoes online). Airlines and local transit authorities are providing service updates via Twitter. And of course every ad firm in America is now trying to sell its clients on using Twitter to market their shit, presumably to a young, tech-savvy audience with a very short attention span.

I’ve yet to see it effectively used by bands or record labels. There are natural limitations to Twitter due to its inherent brevity, which seems to breed a perception of frivolity or insignificance to the very messages it communicates. Still, if used in a focused manner, it could become a timely vehicle for delivering news and other information, if not live music reviews…

Column 207: In a Twitter
The end of conversation.

Back in the old days — a few short years ago — just blogging was enough. People had a way of electronically publishing their ideas — no matter how mundane — in a format that was accessible to the entire world via the Internet. Bored college students in Toledo could now share their insights with bored college students in Gdansk about such nail-biting topics as: what they had for dinner, why they’re pissed at their boyfriend/girlfriend, and what’s on TV.

Now along comes Twitter. Well, not just now. Twitter’s been around since 2006 (according to Wikipedia, which itself has been around since 2001), but it seems like no one started using it until last year. Oh sure, there were a couple Twitter pioneers (drones who will proudly boast that they’ve been Tweeting (the verb form) for years), but the technology — and the term itself — only just entered our vernacular in the past year or so (or mine, at least).

Brief tech discussion: Twitter is a browser-based “social networking” environment that limits its users to 140 characters per post. The limit is there, in part, to facilitate the use of cell phones as input devices, along with the web. It also forces people to strenuously self-edit themselves, to carefully hone their ideas to only the most critical few words. Each comment answers the universal question: What are you doing? The result: Briefer discussions about what’s for dinner, boyfriends/girlfriends, and what’s on TV.

Unlike blogs (but like Facebook, which is another slice of entropy altogether) people search Twitter for their friends, and then “follow” them. Twitter aggregates everyone you’re “following” into one inane conversation, each comment conveniently time-stamped, something like:

Husker_power: Hungry. Taco Johns tonight fur shure. about 3 hours ago from TwitterBerry
Santinofan: Watching Top Chef. Ariane got screwed. Padme where are you? about 5 hours ago from web

And so on. Twitter appears to be a natural de-evolution of human interaction. Soon all discussions will be limited to Tarzan-like grunts, culminating in: “Poop. Pee. Eat. Poop. Screw. Eat. Simpsons. Poop.”

So why all this discussion about Twitter? About six months ago, I logged onto Twitter for the first time. You can “follow” my tweeting online at: twitter.com/tim_mcmahan. I quickly discovered that “micro-blogging” has its advantages. Take CD reviews, for instance. Instead of spending hours writing gripping, nuanced examinations of an album’s true meaning, I only have room for:

tim_mcmahan: Listening to the new Ladyfinger album. Brutal fun.

or

tim_mcmahan: Listening to new Springsteen. Nothing new here *yawn*.

Conversely, Twitter allows bands, record labels and assorted famous folk to keep in touch with their fans. I now know what The Willowz (thewillowz), Saddle Creek Records (saddlecreek) and Lance Armstrong (lancearmstrong) are having for lunch. For better or worse.

One perceived value of Twitter is the real-time nature of the medium. Instead of text messaging to one person, you’re text messaging to all of your “followers” at once. To test Twitters’ capabilities and limitations, I took my iPhone to Slowdown last Saturday night for the Cursive concert and annoyed everyone within a few feet of me by tapping in the following comments throughout the evening. Here’s the transcript/review:

tim_mcmahan: Full house. I’m buying Rolling Rocks two at a time. 10:34 PM Jan 24th from mobile web

tim_mcmahan: House music is Michael Jackson, or at least it sounds like Jacko. 10:37 PM

tim_mcmahan: Nice. Kasher’s voice sounds husky. 10:57 PM

tim_mcmahan: Classic Kasher rant. “Bark bark bark.” 11:11 PM

tim_mcmahan: Seems like they’re working trumpet into every song these days. For better or worse. 11:14 PM

tim_mcmahan: Some of this new stuff sounds like The Good Life. The convergence keeps getting closer. 11:31 PM

tim_mcmahan: Halfway through the set. Ted Stevens finally switches from the 12-string to his LP. 11:34 PM

tim_mcmahan: Kasher says he’s got a sore throat and is drinking hot tea. He sounds fine. 11:41 PM

tim_mcmahan: “What Have I Done.” Kasher’s back to the self-referential lyrics. Songs about writing songs. 11:44 PM

tim_mcmahan: His most soulful song since Domestica. 11:46 PM

tim_mcmahan: Cornbread on drums changes the entire complexion of Cursive. They swing now, moreso than the old frontal assault of Schnase. 11:54 PM

tim_mcmahan: Off stage now. Encore’s next. This is a longer set than Union Hall. 11:55 PM

tim_mcmahan: Back. With “Art is Hard.” Crowd loves it. Kasher’s right. Mostly kids huddled along the stage. 11:59 PM

tim_mcmahan: Never get tired of hearing “The Martyr.” 12:04 AM

tim_mcmahan: Okay, now his voice is giving out. 12:06 AM

tim_mcmahan: Struggling through “Sierra.” The last song of the night. 12:11 AM

tim_mcmahan: Kasher takes over the drum kit. 12:13 AM

tim_mcmahan: That’s it. Kasher won’t be talking for a week. 12:14 AM

Just like being there? Not really. Looking over the comments the following morning, I wondered if they needed to be augmented with explanations, but realized that anyone who knows me and what I write about understands the shorthand. They know who Kasher and Cursive is. They know the song titles and the terminology. And if they don’t, they can always find out. On Myspace or Facebook. On YouTube. On Wikipedia. Or on Twitter, which is effectively shoe-horning the world into a conversation that’s only 140 characters wide. For better or worse.

* * *

The Black Squirrels are playing tonight at The Waiting Room with Robin James Hurt and Lincoln Dickison (Monroes, Bombardment Society). $7, 9 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

I’ve been following Darren Keen’s career for years, since 2003 when I first interviewed him as The Show Is the Rainbow. TSITR shows are mad, freak-out events, part dance party, part performance art, part AV extravaganza. TSITR recordings and performances have been inaccurately compared to Har Mar Superstar because of their sheer mad-cap quality even though TSITR leans more toward experimental-noise-rap than HMS’s comedy-dance-underwear shows.

That said, last night’s CD release show for Darren Keen — not TSITR — was the most entertaining thing I’ve seen/heard Keen perform — a straight-up psychedelic rock show with a bit of standup/personal confession/monologue tossed in between songs. Keen approaches songwriting in a way that so few non-Creek local singer-songwriters are able to — he writes about his life and how he’s living it. His songs aren’t cliché, made-up rock fantasies, but small scenes from his personal reality. We got about 45 minutes of Keen singing about crushes suffered at Urban Outfitters, being broke and in debt, drug fantasies in Germany, messages to his mother, bizarre love triangles and other moments from his everyday sordid life.

TSITR fans may not be aware of this, but anyone who remembers Musico knows that Keen is something of a guitar virtuoso — a real showman. And he’s smart enough to surround himself with other virtuosos on keyboards and drums. So while his new record is a somewhat restrained, stripped down, keyboard-dominated affair, the live rendition is pure rock spectacle. And I loved it.

The irony (to me, anyway) is that Keen as TSITR just signed to Retard Disco Records (Gravy Train!!!, Hawnay Troof) and has a new TSITR album coming out this spring, which means he’ll be stuck touring his one-man show for the next six months or so, and neglecting the music that I heard last night. Is this merely a Keen side project in the vein of Sean Na Na? If so, it’d be a shame.

I did catch most of the Stolen Kisses’ set. Here’s a four-piece that consists of guys dressed in collared shirts and sweaters, tweed jacket and turtleneck, playing ’60s-style garage rock that recalls early Velvets and MC5 and the bands that influenced them. We’re talking stuff like “This Magic Moment,” and “My Baby Does the Hanky Panky.” I thoroughly dug it, but from what I gleaned by comments made on stage, some of the band’s members might be moving away. I don’t know that for a fact, but if it’s true, it’s another shame.

* * *

Column 207 — about Twitter — will appear tomorrow. Sorry about the delay.

BTW, if you were thinking of going to that Kevin Costner show at Slowdown tomorrow night, you’re all out of luck.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

How to describe Slumberparty, the new album by Darren Keen, the mastermind behind The Show Is the Rainbow… Personal? Introspective? Homemade? Tuneful? Glistening? All those words seem to fit, but not really.

In Keen’s interview with Kevin Coffey in the OWH (here), he said he was trying to make a singer-songwriter record, but that Slumberparty wasn’t it. “It’s kinda like psychedelic singer-songwriter music,” he said. It’s experimental, but in its own way, less experimental than TSITR. In fact, tunes on the album sport more-focused central melodies, my favorite being “Fun Buddy,” with the line, “Well I don’t know what I did / Would you show me?” I can’t wait to see how Darren belts it out tonight at the album’s release party at The Waiting Room. Joining him will be Slumber Party label mates Honeybee, Stolen Kisses & DJ Kobrakyle. $7, 9 p.m.

Speaking of the OWH, I just noticed that another article appeared in the paper last Friday announcing that Mick’s is closing and reopening as “The Sydney,” a “neighborhood bar.” The new owners were identified as Pinkerton Properties, which includes Jamie Massey of Ladyfinger/Race for Titles fame. The owners reiterated that although they’re keeping the PA, The Sydney (Aussie theme?) won’t be a music venue. I recently discussed the wisdom of opening a new neighborhood bar in the already crowded Benson market with one of the area’s bar owners. His take: It’ll be a huge success. We’ll see.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

The review of Saturday night’s Cursive show will be this week’s column (about the plusses and minuses of Twitter), so look for it on Wednesday. If you can’t wait that long (and who could?) the review’s skeleton is on Twitter now, here. The Twitter entries were written in “real time” as a sort of experiment. I’ll probably begin to do this at most shows I attend (though detailed reviews will end up blogged at Lazy-i the following day). If you have a Twitter account, go ahead and “follow” me.

* * *

Once upon a time, there was a Memphis band that formed in the early ’90s called The Grifters. You may remember them. They put out their seminal album in 1995 on Shangra-La Records, a head-trip called Crappin’ You Negative. They switched to Sub Pop in ’96 for Ain’t My Lookout and Full Blow Possession in 1997. In ’96, Grifters guitarist/vocalist Dave Shouse formed Those Bastard Souls, which released one of my favorite records, Debt & Departure on V2 records in 1999. Shouse followed that project with Bloodthirsty Lovers, which put a self-titled album in 2003 followed by Delicate Seam on Frenchkiss Records in 2004.

Then Shouse sort of disappeared. Or at least I lost track of him. I sent him an e-mail a couple years ago, asking what he was up to, and he replied saying he was working on something that wasn’t quite ready for public consumption. Then this weekend, I got another e-mail from Shouse, saying:

Scott Taylor & I are back playing together in The New Mary Jane. Just got a few tunes up on MySpace page & soon to post more. Just wanted to let you know that we’re still making music down here.

In addition to Taylor, who also was a member of Grifters, New Mary Jane includes John Argroves on drums/vocals, and James Godwin on bass/vocals/synth. The tracks on their myspace page have that same trippy, psychedelic yet almost slacker-heroic indie rock style that The Grifters were known for. Looks like they’re currently unsigned (labels, get your checkbooks out).

There’s two bands from the ’90s that I regret never having seen play live. The first was Silkworm. Well, a couple surviving members of that band, guitarist Andy Cohen and baritone guitarist Tim Midgett, went on to form Bottomless Pit with drummer Chris Manfrin of Seam in 2007. I’m told they’re working on a new album as we speak, so maybe we’ll get them to come through town in this new incarnation. It’s not the same, but it’s the next best thing.

The other band I regret having never seen live was The Grifters. Now somebody needs to book New Mary Jane when they finally get their album out and hit the road.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

For those of you heading to Cursive tonight and tomorrow at Slowdown (both shows are sold out), here’s sort of a preview in the form of a sweet review of their Jan. 18 Union Hall show in NYC, published in Punknews.org, that includes a set list. Looks like the band is playing five songs from their forthcoming album Mama, I’m Swollen. The question that comes to mind: What’s the status of this new album? There’s no mention of a specific release date on cursivearmy.com or even more curiously — saddle-creek.com. In fact, is Saddle Creek even releasing this album? I’ve yet to see anything indicating that they are in any of their email newsletters or on their site. Let’s hope for Creek’s sake that my prediction isn’t coming true…

***UPDATE: Saddle Creek’s Jason Kulbel just confirmed that Mama, I’m Swollen will indeed be released on Saddle Creek Records, though the release date has yet to be set.***

Tonight’s show sold out first and rather quickly. I didn’t even get a ticket. The reason could be because the openers — Son Ambulance and It’s True — are more well-known than tomorrow night’s openers, Bald Eagle and Fortnight (I did get tickets to that one). Both shows should be legendary.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Three Omaha bands are listed on the South by Southwest website as “official showcase bands”: Beep Beep, Cursive and Yuppies. I think this list will only get bigger as we get closer to the event, which is March 18-22 in Austin. You can keep track of the list as it grows right here. No word yet as to whether Saddle Creek or Team Love will be hosting a showcase this year…

* * *

The Modern Age and Rock, Paper, Dynamite are at Slowdown Jr. tonight. $5, 9 p.m.

* * *

This week’s column is a consolidation of three or four blog entries from the week prior, so if you’re a regular Lazy-i reader, you’ve seen it all before. I include it here merely for documentarian purposes…

Column 206: Headline Rippers
News from the ‘net

Here’s a recap of some news that went down last week that’s been burning up the Interwebs.

* * *

Sounds like the Box Elders — everyone’s favorite Omaha garage-punk trio — annihilated Brooklyn music venue Market Hotel Jan. 10, according to brooklynvegan.com. “Box Elders left a lasting impression and had the whole, sold-out, Brooklyn room going crazy,” said the reviewer. And apparently Gerard Cosloy was in the house. Cosloy, who started Matador Records with Chris Lombardi in 1990, listed Box Elder’s “Hole In My Head” 7-inch on his year-end list of favorite recordings. Will the trio become label mates with Times New Viking? Stay tuned.

* * *

According to a press release from Nettwerk Music Group, Maria Taylor’s third solo album, LadyLuck, will be released April 7 on Nettwerk. “Teaming up with producer friends Andy LeMaster (Bright Eyes, Azure Ray and a host of Saddle Creek label mates), Mike Mogis and Lukas Burton and featuring collaborations with Michael Stipe, Nate Walcott of Bright Eyes and Mckenzie Smith of Midlake, LadyLuck showcases Taylor’s ability to pull at your heart strings while proving she’s not a woman down on her luck,” said the release. Two tracks from the album became available on iTunes Jan. 13.

I’m told Nettwerk has handled Taylor’s management for years. A Canadian company, the label has released music by Great Lake Swimmers, HEM, Guster, Sarah McLachlan, Skinny Puppy, Ladytron, Josh Rouse, and Single Gun Theory, among others. Interestingly, Nettwerk has a history of fighting the RIAA, and has even offered to pay legal fees to defendants being sued for downloading. According to Wiki: “Nettwerk is one of the first major music companies to abolish DRM, releasing songs in the unrestricted MP3 format, as well as the lossless FLAC and Apple Lossless formats.”

It’s a shame to see any act leave Saddle Creek, but this shouldn’t be a big surprise to the label, considering Taylor’s past relationship with Nettwerk. I figured Orenda Fink/Art in Manila would be the first to jump ship. Is this a body-blow to Saddle Creek? Well, anytime you lose a performer of Taylor’s caliber, it’s gotta hurt.

* * *

Speaking of Orenda, up until this past week, Saddle Creek continued to secretly market (now there’s an oxymoron for you) a project called O+S. Creek’s December e-mail update listed a full-length from O+S as a future release. At the time, I asked Creek who/what O+S is, and was told “More info to come” from Creek exec Jason Kulbel. Meanwhile, Saddle Creek twittered cryptic messages to its followers, like: “can’t wait for you to hear the new O+S album! you’re going to love it!”

Well, O+S was revealed last week as a new project by Orenda Fink — the “O” — and Scalpelist, aka Cedric Lemoyne of Remy Zero — the “S.” College Music Journal reported on it Monday: “The collaboration originally began with Fink’s residency at the Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts in Omaha,” CMJ said. “As part of the residency experiment, Fink collected odd sounds on travels from Omaha to Haiti, and eventually asked LeMoyne, her friend for nearly 20 years, to help organize it all. LeMoyne was soon sampling and looping the recordings, ultimately crafting the disparate noises into pop song structures for the two to write songs around.”

Look for the album on March 24. The reaction? Disappointment by those who were hoping the O stood for Oberst.

* * *

Flipping through the latest issue of Rolling Stone (which now resembles a copy of Us magazine, I still haven’t figured out how to cancel my subscription) I noticed former Omahan Mike Jaworski’s Mt. Fuji label mentioned in David Fricke’s column. Fricke was shelling out praise for the Whore Moans, a Seattle band that just released its new album — Hello from the Radio Wasteland — on Mt. Fuji. Said Fricke, “…the Whore Moans are steadfast believers in loud-fast salvation, or what they call in one power-cord catapult, ‘The Holy Fu**ing Moment.’ This album has plenty.” Nice.

* * *

Tim Kasher talked about getting older in an interview with the Youngstown Vindicator. “Why do people have to act so old?” said Kasher, in the article. “The problem is we all get older, but generally for Americans — and not myself — going out to see shows becomes something younger people do, which it doesn’t have to be that way. So I think it means more to us when 30-year-olds are into [our music]. Not to dismiss teenagers: When you write and play this umbrella genre of rock ’n’ roll, that’s who listens to it, teenagers.”

Kasher went on to say in the article that, believe it or not, he and his band mates were once teen-agers but are now in their 30s. “And it’s not like we’re playing some antiquated music that we don’t believe anymore,” he said. “We’re still doing the same things that we believed in then. So I guess it means more to us when there are 30-year-olds who actually have been with us the whole time. I don’t think there are many of them, frankly.”

Well, something tells me Kasher will see more than his share this weekend as he and the rest of Cursive play sold-out shows at The Slowdown Friday and Saturday nights. This old guy will be among them.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Some music news on a sleepy Wednesday after Obama…

Dutch Hall Records has released a split 7-inch by Yuppies and Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship. Catalog No. 002 joins No. 001 — a single by Perry H. Matthews called “From the Brohouse.” Copies are available at The Antiquarium and, of course, at the respective bands’ shows. According to their Myspace page (where you can also order the singles), Dutch Hall also is affiliated with The Pistol Brothers, Civil Ground, My Dream Scientist, Ryan Prinz, Paul Hansen, Conchance and Noah Sterba. Seems like new labels just keep popping up around here.

Speaking of record labels, Slumber Party Records just posted the third of its weekly “New Thing” downloads at their website. The song by Stolen Kisses, “My Oh My Hanky Panky,” is Chris Kramer of Talking Mountain doing his best Tommy James and the Shondells tribute. Nice. The free download joins singles by My Pal Dragon (Matt from Thunder Power) and Honeybee. Get ’em; they’re freakin’ free.

While you’re on the SP site, check out a couple tracks from Darren Keen’s new LP, titled Slumberparty Records (here). Keen will be celebrating the CD’s release (on his own It Ar Good label) at TWR next Tuesday with Honeybee, Stolen Kisses, & DJ Kobrakyle.

And speaking of upcoming release shows, here are three more to add to your calendar:

— Hyannis’s CD release show for In a Car is Feb. 6 at Slowdown, with Brimstone Howl, Outlaw Con Bandana and The Night Gallery. $5 gets you in the door and a copy of the disc.

— Ladyfinger will be celebrating the release of their latest Saddle Creek full-length, Dusk, Feb. 21 at Slowdown. The disc actually hits the bins Feb. 3. I’ve heard it — it’s smokin’!

— Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies will celebrate the long-awaited release of their debut CD Feb. 28 at Slowdown.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Nothing to report as we all celebrate Obama Day, other than… I caught the Obama pre-inaugural music bash last night on HBO. There, standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, was Little Johnny Cougar, Bon Jovi, Garth Brooks, Little Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock, Springsteen, U2, and I was starkly reminded what generation Obama comes from. I wonder who put together the program’s line-up. Something tells me the new Commander in Chief had nothing to do with it. I hope I’m right.

And is it me or is Bono starting to look like Robin Williams?

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

M83 last night at Slowdown went down pretty much as expected. Actually, that’s not true. I went thinking that there may be a bit more theatrics in their staging. After all, they’re competing with acts like Sigur Rós, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, and considering the dance/pop nature of some of their songs, The Faint. So it was a bit disappointing to see the only stage accoutrement was a large M83 curtain hanging from the rafters. I also expected a smaller turnout. Someone posted on the webboard last week that only 100 tickets were sold. I would guesstimate that there was maybe three times that number in the crowd — a respectable turnout except when you consider that M83 is selling out in other cities on this tour.

Their sound, however, was no surprise at all. At the center was mastermind Anthony Gonzales on keyboards, electric guitar, Mac (judging by the glowing Apple logo that stood out like a beacon atop his hardware rack) and vocals. Standing across from him behind an opposing battery of synths was the amazing Morgan Kibby. Add a drummer and bass and you’ve got a full band that made a note-perfect recreation of the dense, atmospheric, dreamy music heard on M83 albums. M83 is a must for anyone into synth-powered ambient shoe-gazer stuff from bands like those mentioned above as well as The Cure, Roxy Music, Eno, My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, and stylized synth-dance acts like Ladytron and Junior Boys. Their sheer enormity and their unabashed penchant for ’80s synth sounds make them stand out from the crowd. There is a tension and drama to M83’s music, which makes the Mogwai/Sigur/Kevin Shields comparisons easy; there’s also a knack for Eno-esque repeated phrasings that build to glittering, crashing crescendos. In fact, their music is so naturally theatrical that a complementary lighting show is a must. It certainly would have helped get the crowd into the music — the bowl in front of the stage was filled with blank-eyed, mesmerized stares, seemingly oblivious to the dance beats.

It was probably the best-sounding show I’ve heard on Slowdown’s big stage — gorgeous and balanced and not too loud. They played for about an hour before coming back for one 15-minute encore that ended with a shimmering fade played from an empty stage.

* * *

Flipping through the latest issue of Rolling Stone (which now resembles a copy of Us magazine, I still haven’t figured out how to cancel my subscription) I noticed former Omahan Mike Jaworski’s Mt. Fuji label mentioned in David Fricke’s column. Fricke was shelling out praise for the Whore Moans, a Seattle band that just released its new album — Hello from the Radio Wasteland — on Mt. Fuji. Said Fricke, “…the Whore Moans are steadfast believers in loud-fast salvation, or what they call in one power-cord catapult, ‘The Holy Fucking Moment,’ This album has plenty.” Nice.

* * *

Tonight, a special Martin Luther King Jr. spectacular at O’Leaver’s featuring Reagan and the Rayguns, Local Natives, The Union Line and Voxhaul Broadcast. One wonders if Reagan will recite the “I Have a Dream” speech over a sample of Wil.i.am’s “Yes We Can.” Now that’s hope I can believe in… 9 p.m., $5.

* * *

And last but not least, here are the winners in the Lazy-i Best of 2008 Sampler giveaway:

Ryan Hinderaker, Chicago
Helen Gassmann, Hamburg, PA
Bart L. Parks, Omaha

Congratulations! I’ll be dropping your CDs in the mail tomorrow. And thanks to everyone who entered.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—